219 



dantly, indeed, than do the flowers on the principal form (Fig. 33 A). 

 The bulbils consist of small, green, close-set rosettes of leaves 

 which are lateral shoots of the 1st and 2nd order, the branches 

 terminating either blindly or in a rudimentary flower. The 

 bulbils are borne in the axils of the bracts. In the axils of 

 the rosettes, other small rosettes are developed (axes of 2nd 

 and perhaps higher order) so that the bulbils become compound 

 shoots (see Th. Holm: PI. X, Fig. 5; and my figure 33). 



In 1886 I expressed doubt as to how far they fell off and 

 germinated; but that they do this has since been recorded by 

 Andersson and Hesselman, according to whom, in Spitzbergen, 

 they begin to fall in August; by Lindmark, who has given good 



Fig 33. Saxifraga stellaris f. coynosa. 

 A, A branch of an inflorescence; fe, the terminal flower (mag. IV2). B, A bulbil; most of 

 its lateral shoots have fallen off. C, D, Bulbils; the leaves are seen to be partially oppo- 

 site, the leaf-pairs representing the first leaves of shoots .E, A yormg bulbil, the leaves have 

 been spread out. f, G, Small detached bulbils, ff, A germinating bulbil. (E. W.) 



figures of germinating specimens; and by Ekstam and Kerner; 

 it has also been observed by Porsild, who like Lindmark found 

 them even developing roots while they where still seated upon 

 the parent plant (June 30, 1892); Fig. 33 H. These bulbils 

 had lived through the winter in a fresh green condition. 



All the observations indicate that this form is an adaptation to 

 the extreme Arctic climate. Lindmark even writes: "there, where 

 the principal form ends, comosa begins." In the regions of 

 the far north (Spitzbergen and northernmost Greenland) it is 

 the only form met with, or the most common; but the further 

 we proceed southwards, the more common is the flower-bearing 



